Social spending, RTE to be focus
Mahesh, sentenced to life in an 1984 anti-Sikh riots case, being taken to Tihar Jail from Karkardooma Court in east Delhi
On the back of healthy revenue collections, chief minister Sheila Dikshit is expected to focus on social sector and raise spending on transport and educational infrastructure in her maiden Budget presentation in the Assembly on Tuesday.
Ms Dikshit will present the Delhi Budget, as she has kept the finance portfolio with herself in the recent Cabinet reshuffle. The Budget will be the first after the Commonwealth Games and is likely to see the chief minister reaching out to the vulnerable sections of the society in a big way.
When asked about the Budget, the chief minister told reporters that the social sector would be her top-most priority.
Ms Dikshit is not likely to ignore next year’s MCD election and will try to give a boost to the prospect of the Congress wresting back the power in the civic body.
Ms Dikshit is likely to allocate over `1,200 crores to improve school infrastructure and recruit teachers to meet the obligations under the Right to Education Act (RTE).
The robust revenue collection of the city government is indicated by the fact that stamp duty and registration of properties reported a 62 per cent jump till January this year.
Officials indicated that the chief minister may not burden the common man with tax rate hikes this year.
Meanwhile, the Delhi Assembly on Monday passed the vote of thanks on the inaugural address of lieutenant-governor Tejendra Khanna which saw Leader of the Opposition V.K. Malhotra and Ms Dikshit hitting out at each other.
Mr Malhotra accused the government of corruption and charged that instead of taking action against the minister who has been indicted by the Lokayukta the CM plans to cut down the power of the institution itself.
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